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Why This Walk?

Reason #1: Summer 2009For a couple of weeks during the summer of 2009, friends and I rented a house in Autoir, a beautiful tiny and historic town in central France. We were a small group, and almost every day we visited the innumerable picturesque small villages in the surrounding area. Struck by the density of inns and restaurants along the network of country roads, I realized I might be able to very pleasantly go on a grande promenadethrough my spiritual homeland with no need for a plan.

Reason #2: I Love Walking
In November 2009, I sold my car, bought a long rain coat, a couple of stylin' backpacks and some waterproof shoes and returned to the pedestrian life—in the literal sense of the word. And when Spring arrived in 2010—my first without a car—every sunny day pulled me outside for a walk; I had fallen in love with my feet. I walked every day, and at least three times a week I would go on for four-to-six hour walks. As a pedestrian, I have smelled smells that I remembered from my youth, I have met people, patted and cooed with hundreds of God's four-footed love ambassadors and I have seen gardens!

Reason #3: Francofanatacism

I am a Francofanatic. My birth parents are both Quebecois and I am terribly proud of my French blood. Raised Anglophone by an adoptive father, born Francophone; I am truly Canadian.

Reason #4: PAL Vancouver!
I have a long association with the Performing Arts Lodge, Vancouver. It provides social housing to veteran members of the professional performing arts, a community I love and have belonged to all my professional life.

Reason #5: Aging and Mobility
When my beloved friend, Peter, went blind, he overcompensated. He started going to auctions and doing things as if to challenge his blindness. In perhaps the same way, because I am losing my mobility, this walk is a "now or never" kind of thing for me.